Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Dear Diary,
I am testing yet another ap, this time on my Droid X2. It is editing a post I started in Blogsy so there may be some stray html tags here and there. I dont know how the pictures work either. And I don't know.how to post.

I've pretty much given up in ever being able to post easily again.

13. This week I was informed that my degree has been posted. I am now Herself Geekgirl, MSW/LPCC. The world seems a little brighter. I'm done. DONE, I tell you! I am now ready to move on with other growth projects.<br><br/><br/>

12. This week I started on a project to do three random acts of kindness a day. The key is, it has to be something I wouldn't normally do, for no reason that benefits me. <br/><br/>

11. I have been taking estradiol and progesterone for 16 days. My hot flashes have become warm flashes. The sheets are only slightly damp. I actually get some sleep. Since it's all hormones, I just take my estradiol, progesterone, thyroid hormone pills, and EDTA at the same time. My mood started to improve.<br/><br/>

10. But then, despite a week of improving sleep, I was tired again. On what should have been a relatively strenuous hike up a mountain to the crest trail, that I should have easily handled, I was stopping several times. Was I short of breath? No. Were my legs tired? No. I was exhausted. Despite drinking a red bull, I needed a nap and could have easily taken one right there on the trail. <br/><br/>
Instead of going the full 4.5 miles, I turned back at 3.8. It was exhausting running back down. I was discouraged, and bewildered. What the hell was wrong now? I should be recovered from my 100k. It was three weeks ago. i should be stronger from it!<br/><br/>

9. On a lark, I googled THYROID INTERACTION ESTROGEN, and there it was. <br/><br/>Motherf... yet aNOTHER thing that interferes with thyroid medication. In as many as 40% of women taking thyroid meds and HRT, an adjustment is needed in their thyroid medication.<br/><br/>
Does it ever end? At what point do I get to stop feeling like I'm no longer a person, but an amalgam of pills and parts? Time to see the endocrinologist, I think.<br/><br/>

8. I want some bread. I have been making bread all week. Living a mile above sea level as I do, it has taken some adjusting to get it right.<br/><br/>

7. I'm now training for Javalina Jundred. I'm going to try to finish it faster this time. Also, Bandera 100k, in January. <br/><br/>6. Blind Kitty is now a lanky teenager. She knows her way around the house well enough for take a running leap onto a breakfast nook she knows will always be there. She follows me around and snuggles next to me on the bed. And for some inexplicable reason, likes to sit in open windows. <br/><br/>

5. I have an apple tree, laden wi fruit. This week I bought one of those crank things that peels apples, canning jars, and a canning tool set. I made four pints of apple butter, using my crock pot. For the second two pints, I used splenda. Since the grapes are ripe, grape jam is in the works. This, I imagine, is what people who are not in school do with their time. They garden. They make jam and bread. Hopefully, it will set. If not, there will be plenty of grape nectar to go around.<br/><br/>
So, yeah. Homemade bread, lots of jam. What could go wrong?

4. This week Twenty-first Century Mom was in town for the wedding of Dreadpirate Rackham to...uh, Mr. Black. He doesn't have an alias, so I'll call him Mr. Black. <br/><br/>

3. Also, people not in school any more hang bunches of herbs to dry around the house. And make rosemary wreaths. I'm about to go all Laura Ingals up in here. Martha Stewart is in the hiz-ouse.<br/><br/>
I have instructions for using my car, sitting in the August New Mexico sun, as a giant dehydrator to create sun-dried tomatoes from my garden. I promise to take pictures of this.<br/><br/>

2. This week, we went to Leadville for three of the four races that Baboo is doing for his Grand Slam of Ultrarunning series. Mini Baboo and Mama Baboo, who recently moved to New Mexico, joined us. mama Baboo had never seen the finish line of a 100-miler, and Sweet Baboo got a big hug from Mama right before.crossing the line in 29:13.<br/><br/>
Next, we head to Salt Lake City for the last run of the grand slam: Wasatch Front Endurance Run.

1. While in Twin Lakes, I went for a run by the shore of the lake. I had very idealic picture of what this might be like. As it turns out, it is much better in thoery than in practice. The shoreline was steeply sloped, covered in cobbles. Underneath the cobbles I had my choice of soft, deep, dry sand or wet, spongy sand.
But, it was crisp, in the forties, just the break I needed. I wound up finishing my shortened run on the road. Still: running alomg the shoreline. In case you thought it would be awesome, I'm happy throw myself on that the sword for you.

Friday, August 03, 2012

13. Mama said there'd be days like this. She talked about how awesome menopause was, and how happy she was to be rid of "all that".

12. But she never said that menopause would make me so shiny. And damp.

11. She never told me about the tiny fan I'd park next to my keyboard. Or that I would become quite good at unobtrusively switching it on while talking to someone in my office. And then sixty seconds later, switching it off again.

10. Mom didn't tell me that I'd be waking up four or five times every night, shoveling sheets and covers onto poor Sweet Baboo, only to rip them back off him again 60 seconds later.

9. And the insane cravings for bread and cheese. Is that part of it? I don't know. But there it is. And it's keeping me from making race weight. If' it's not related to menopause, shhhhhh. Don't tell my ass that. Thing is, I bought a breadmaker. Ooo. This is bad. Very, very bad. I made rosemary bread, using rosemary that grows in my garden. And then put cheese on it. Brie, Colby, whatever. As long as its cheese. I wouldn’t look for that little weight indicator at the tope of my page to change soon.

8. She didn't live long enough to tell me I would be googling estrogen, progesterone, etc.

7. Due to the constant sweating and wiping of my forehead and brow, I have the skin I had as a teenager.

6. Sweet Baboo said it's all part of the mystery and joy of being a woman. Right before I considered throwing a shoe at him (I didn't). My sense of humor waxes and wanes these days. For the most part, I've settled into all this, but the sweating and panting makes it hard to do it with grace.

5. I was once worried about estrogen as a performance reducer. Not any more. I don’t think there’s much that can make me any slower.

4. The doc gave me two prescriptions for hormones: estrogen and progesterone. My cost for those prescriptions: about $8. $8 for one month. Do you KNOW how much I've been spending on Black Cohosh, Progestacare Plus (over-the-counter progesterone and estrogen cream) and Maca Root? I'll give you a hint: It's not $8. It's about 5x that much.

3. Day 2 of the hormones, and my hot flashes are coming once an hour instead of several times per hour. I slept better last night. It’s cheaper, it works-- Bah. Give me Western Medicine. Keep the hippie alternative thearpies.

2. This Sunday is the La Luz trail run. I’ve done this one before. My time last year was about 3:59 or so, I think. I’d like to beat that this year.

1. I’m pretty sure I’m going to pay another visit to Javelina Jundred this year. I’m planning to see if I can beat my blistering 18+ time for the 100K from 2010.

Dear Diary, A rep from Free Country wrote me and offered to send me a swim suit if I would review it for my blog. Say it with me now: ...

It's never too late to be what you might have been. --George Eliot

Athena is the Goddess of wisdom and war. In 2005, I declared war on my own bad tendencies: sloth, being fat, compacency, and being too old for adventure. This is the story of how I went from being someone who never stood when she could sit, to being an ultrarunner, marathoner, and triathlete. Along the way I've cried, laughed, fallen, gotten up, lost, won, hallucinated, been dehydrated, DNF'ed, and been DFL. I also swear. Alot.
"You're never too old to be what you might have been" --George Eliot

3rd Year In Row

Advice and Information

Longest distance on foot.

In less than 1 day.

First Marathon Thoughts...

I looked at my feet. They didn't look any different. They just looked like my feet. So did my legs. I had this idea that when you finished something like this, you'd look different--your legs would look like the legs of a runner, all ropy and muscley. But I still looked like me. I just didn't feel like me. 1.14.7

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